I think it's good to read this every ten years or so, to marvel at Dante's inventiveness at the miseries these souls (heavily weighted toward those whI think it's good to read this every ten years or so, to marvel at Dante's inventiveness at the miseries these souls (heavily weighted toward those who were his contemporaries) have made for themselves, and how he makes himself so perfectly clueless about the very cosmology he devised. I paid particular attention to how as the author and his guide descend into Hell the sense of fantastic horror increases in a way that I don't think existed before. It felt like the aim was to burn out all vice in the Dante character so that he could re-emerge on the other side ready to take the path back toward heaven, maybe because of all the strife and tumult he'd experienced in his very political life up till then.Reading the whole book in a month, about one canto a day, it just the right pace to allow one to study the endnotes. Most of the individual stories he crams in here I'd already forgotten from the previous times I've read the book. Of course many of these have now been adopted by other artists, but there are lots of others whom we know only through a couple of lines of verse seven centuries after they lived.This is the second time I've read Pinsky's translation. I like it, but maybe not as much as John Ciardi's which seems more graceful, less brutal in places. The poem is a terrible beauty, studded with those amazing metaphors Dante was so fond of....more

The main thing I learned is that the best time to read (or reread) this classic is during Lent. Who knew?

Like the rest of the Commedia, the poem is meThe main thing I learned is that the best time to read (or reread) this classic is during Lent. Who knew?

Like the rest of the Commedia, the poem is meticulously structured. The three parts are the arrival at Mount Purgatory (the only landmass opposite the inhabited continents of the known Earth), then the climb up the mountain around the seven cornices of purification, then the allegorical pageant of the blessed in the Earthly Paradise. Unlike the descent into Hell, Dante and Virgil complete their ascent over the course of a few days after Easter AD 1300, and because they may not make upward progress while the Sun is down, there are enforced rest (and dream) periods. This time when Dante interviews the souls they have an orientation toward Heaven; they are already saved, and submit to their trials voluntarily, as a sort of ultimate self-improvement. The stories are sometimes quite similar to what we saw in Inferno, with the addition of a sincere repentance and absolution at the end. At the same time, Dante the pilgrim is changing, having his sins erased from his brow as he grows lighter and lighter on his trip up the mountain. The way Dante understands what he sees when he arrives in Eden is Scholastic, not psychological, and it takes a fair amount of exertion to get into the proper frame of mind to appreciate the symbols and allusions packed into these scenes. This kind of work is not for everyone, probably, but there are moments of great beauty for the reader who can make the journey....more

I had forgotten a lot in the years since the last time I read this book, and now I am reading it to understand what I can about character depiction anI had forgotten a lot in the years since the last time I read this book, and now I am reading it to understand what I can about character depiction and story construction. A lot of it is not to modern tastes, I can see now, but it is good to see how Dickens contrives to create such well-loved characters out of what are to all appearances unlikeable people, setting them in a narrative which is simply crazy....more

This is my second time reading this, and I think that because I knew how it was structured I was able to enjoy it better this time. The otherworldly pThis is my second time reading this, and I think that because I knew how it was structured I was able to enjoy it better this time. The otherworldly preoccupations of Dante do not match the typical ones of our worldly time. The flamelike souls he encounters assemble into elaborate patterns as if this fourteenth century poet knew about computer graphics, as a sort of extension of the very last section of Purgatorio where he describes the allegorical pageant in Eden. And through it all, Dante's inspiration for his journey, Beatrice, becomes more and more idealized until she ends up as little more than an enraptured smile in the realm of the Empyrean. This is rarefied fare for the modern reader raised upon realism and natural depictions in literature. This is the least prosaic sections of the epic poem, and it might help to think of it in specifically non-prose terms, as if it were a very long song lyric maybe, where our expectations of what makes for a satisfying experience is not tied in with the same kind of storytelling tradition.Along with the allegory comes a large helping of Scholastic philosophy, of medieval orthodoxy, and ecclesiastical inside politics. If we pay attention to the people who are described here, we recall that this is being written at the tail end of the centuries of Crusades, when the temporal power of the Church was close to its highest point. This can be a problem for many readers, and not even only the unbelievers. It can be a hard read for someone who is not already interested in saints and emperors and bishops, patriarchs and religious warriors, who fill these cantos. It's worth noting the way these encounters affect the pilgrim Dante: he becomes increasingly bedazzled, literally losing his sight at one point while witnessing these souls who now shine in the firmament. He is as star-struck as any present-day fan of celebrity might be.I feel the best way to read Paradiso is to do it while enjoying the paintings and illuminations it has inspired over the centuries since, by Doré and Blake and Dalí and anonymous illuminators. Some of these really help convey the feeling of rapture Dante wants to instill....more

I listened to this on audio (Librivox) and read the ebook. If you enjoy this type of wit as I do then you will probably love this book, but if you expI listened to this on audio (Librivox) and read the ebook. If you enjoy this type of wit as I do then you will probably love this book, but if you expect modern pacing, characterization, and plot, you might be bored with it instead. The comedy on and off the river is interspersed with some passages of purple prose here and there, too. It might help somewhat to have a map of the country if you are unfamiliar with it, but I don't think it is essential....more

The last time I read this was in the early 1980s and so it is with a nearly empty set of preconceptions that I am returning to it now to begin this ceThe last time I read this was in the early 1980s and so it is with a nearly empty set of preconceptions that I am returning to it now to begin this centennial Year of Reading Proust. I do remember the sensation of the words just washing over me, not being quite sure what they were describing (now I can see that the book has virtually no plot and just enough action to keep the prose stirred up a little), and no clear impression of where the rest of the series would go, except certainly later in the life of the Narrator. Proust writes as if he can divide up perception into its constituent atoms and chart the way their paths evolve over time, assembling these bits into a portrait fixed at a particular time and place only if it suits his purposes of depicting a certain character or spotlighting some aspect of his theme. Thus, it is very easy to get disoriented, especially a century after it came out.

I'm boosting my rating a star now over what I had previously. Swann's Way really does belong among the first rank of novels ever written.

It is fascinating to see how certain motifs are woven in and out: music, flowers, social convention, and the advent of the modern world. I am looking forward to watching how these develop over the remaining volumes. If the effect of reading this work is really as life-changing as some have claimed, I am still uncertain, or rather I cannot tell whether it is more so than any other monumental work of literature to which one has been exposed....more

I read The Pearl many years ago. Recently I read Of Mice and Men and I think I can see some theatrical/cinematic influence on the writing. I think I mI read The Pearl many years ago. Recently I read Of Mice and Men and I think I can see some theatrical/cinematic influence on the writing. I think I might want to pick up Cannery Row next at some point, thinking back to a visit we made a while back to the John Steinbeck museum in Salinas....more

Is this the best book ever written in English? Maybe not, but it does have a freshness and a sense of daring after all this time. Spending so much timIs this the best book ever written in English? Maybe not, but it does have a freshness and a sense of daring after all this time. Spending so much time seeing the world through the eyes and other senses of the characters is something only a few authors could pull off, and the places where this works here are dazzling....more